The H.L. Verdon's Biweekly Pasage in front of Saltaire

Throughout the 1950's and 1960's the tanker H.L. Verdon sailed by Saltaire en route to and from port in Patchogue. Old Bay people recall that she occasionally ran aground. To get off a shoal, they would just dump a bunch oil onto the bay to lighten the ship up. click image to enlarge

Pix by Frank Mina

"Anonymous" (who are you?) replies: "Now we're talkin' GSB activity- happy to see this ... gem of the tanker Jim. Remember her well- she even appeared in the opening of "That Girl" TV show with Marlo Thomas way back when.Too bad this isn't happening much these days on the bay with this type of commerce. --FA

JOH: Too bad we don't see this commercial dumping on the bay anymore? We are into much bigger things these days down in the Gulf of Mexico.

When I was little and played on the beach on the bay front (note to newcomers: there used to be a beach on the bay front by the swimming area: sand, etc. ) The kids would wait for the waves from the wakes of the passing ferry boats to liven up beach play: to crash into their sand castles, etc. Richard McManus would snorkel looking only at the bottom for fish and crabs, oblivious of the surface conditions and he would tumble over when the oncoming mini-tsunamis rolled in. Ferry boat wakes could also make swimming lessons a little more challenging because you had to learn to ingest a few more gallons of crashing sea water). At any rate, I could never figure out why the H. L. Verdon, which was a ship, did not seem to generate much of a wake. Any theories???